


I'd like to look around, but Honey, all I see is you

by die_traumerei



Series: The Triple Point [5]
Category: Captain America - All Media Types
Genre: Dating, Love, Multi, bucky barnes is a giant romantic, valentines day
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-02-14
Updated: 2016-02-14
Packaged: 2018-05-20 10:42:19
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,537
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6002830
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/die_traumerei/pseuds/die_traumerei
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Bucky takes Valentine's Day very seriously.</p>
<p>No, not like that. Even Steve likes the day-long date he plans out...</p>
            </blockquote>





	I'd like to look around, but Honey, all I see is you

**Author's Note:**

> Happy Valentine's Day! I love this day, because I am a giant unfocused mass of romanticism, much like Bucky, so here. Enjoy.
> 
> The title is from Stan Rogers' 45 Years, which you can listen to [here](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZrGDoDloD1M), and you should because a) looking up the lyrics just made me burst into tears and b) it's the most loving romantic song ever written. Fo' reals.

“So, what do you guys usually do for Valentine's Day?” Bucky asked, flopping down on the sofa.

“What?” Peggy asked intelligently.

“Ugh, nothing. I do not contribute to corporate holidays that exist just to sell cards and overpriced shit,” Steve announced, looking up from his sketchbook. He had just gotten some new brush pens and was playing around with them.

“Seriously?” Bucky blinked at both of them. “Uh. Not that I don't sort of agree with you Steve but...you don't do _anything_?”

“No.” Steve made a face. “It's a stupid day.”

Peggy gently applied her hand to her eyes. “Which sounds _awfully important to you_ , Bucky,” she said pointedly, and paused to glare at her husband.

“It's a pointless display of pink heter o normative shit,” Steve maintained.

Bucky sighed. “It's not...important,” he said carefully.

“James Barnes, tell us the truth,” Peggy demanded.

Bucky smiled a little. “Okay, it's important. Just. I've basically never managed to date anyone actually  _ on _ Valentines Day and Steve's right, just...” he shrugged. “Okay it's  _ become _ pink shit. But it's also a whole day technically dedicated to loving  other  people. And since we just moved in together and all that, I sort of...wanted to love you. Like, specially.” He slumped further on the sofa. “I do all the dumb shit where I leave notes on my friend's facebook pages and I used to go get drinks with Morita 'cause he's been single since time began and just. Love stuff.”

“And that's why you're a good person, and Steve's a bitter shit,” Peggy said.

“No! Well, yes.”

Steve actually laughed at that, finally looking up from his work. “Hey, you guys stick around,  what's that say about you? ”

“Okay, but.” Bucky curled up on the sofa. “Seriously. I'll leave you alone if you're really fucked off about it, but...I'd like to do something, you know? Nothing corporate, no dozen roses or anything like that, just...something.” He paused, and added in a softer voice, “Because I love you both, and you love me, and that's  _ amazing.” _

Peggy all but visibly melted, and got up to wrap around Bucky, kissing his ear. “Oh, darling.” Another little kiss. “You just played me, didn't you?”

“Like the finest Stradivarius.” Bucky uncurled a little so he could hold her. “But I meant it, too. I do things for everyone I love. And I love you guys so much.”

“Jesus Christ, I'm not made of  _ stone _ ,” Steve muttered. “Fine. We'll do something. What?”

“It'll be a surprise,” Bucky said smugly. “A good one, stop making that face. Jesus, who pissed in your Wheaties?”

“Steve enjoys being a Valentines grinch, because he's  secretly an asshole ,” Peggy informed him.

“ Secretly?” Bucky and Steve chorused, and laughed at their own joke, because.

 

“Hey you.” Steve wrapped his arms around Bucky's waist and kissed the side of his neck. “You know I love you, right?”

“I hadn't the faintest notion. I know, Stevie, you don't really hide it.” Bucky turned around, abandoning the dishes for the moment to hug Steve back. “Love you too. Oh, this is about Valentine's Day, isn't it?”

“I was maybe a little more dickish about it than I really meant to be?”

Bucky laughed, and gave Steve a little squeeze. “I promise you'll love what I come up with. I  _ promise _ . It'll warm even your  cold, bitter heart.”

“I'm holding you to that.”

Bucky kissed him softly. “Don't I know my Stevie, and what he values in this world?”

“ Shit, now I'm actually curious.” Steve laughed, and nuzzled just under Bucky's ear. “You know you don't have to do anything, right? That there's no obligation. That I'm so, so lucky to have you in my life.”

Bucky actually went a little weak at the knees. “I'm lucky to have you, too,” he murmured, maybe holding onto Steve a little tighter than necessary. “But I always do this. Makes sense, to do it for the people I love best.”

Steve just held him a little longer, and then – true love right there – helped him finish the dishes.

 

Valentine's Day dawned unusually warm that year, an early hint of spring that made everything that little bit nicer, that little bit easier. Peggy made a big pot of coffee, and Bucky made heart-shaped pancakes – more or less just to annoy Steve, he claimed, but they were delivered with syrup, butter, and kisses.

“Eat up and get dressed,” Bucky urged. “We have to be in Midtown by eleven.”

“ True love shouldn't involve pants,” Steve informed him.

“You can borrow one of my dresses,” Peggy pointed out.

“Or one of mine,” Bucky teased, and leaned over to kiss Steve sweetly. “You're leaving the house, love. Accept it.”

Steve did, though with a certain quantity of bitching that Bucky and Peggy blithely ignored.  _ They _ dressed nicely, and Steve found jeans and a t-shirt without holes, and they all set off. Balmy breezes sent them to the subway, where Bucky slipped his arm through Steve's and they rode into town together.

Bucky led them through the always-busy streets – his arm in Peggy's this time – then down a flight of steps to a discreet basement door. Letting them in, he scanned the room then grinned, raising an arm to wave to a table in the corner.

“How the hell are you!”  came roaring out of the dim quiet.

“Hi Dum-Dum,” Peggy said cheerfully, walking a little faster and getting all but bodily lifted in a hug from him.  Dernier and Natasha were also at the table, looking appropriately vaguely embar r assed by Dum Dum Dugan's  very  existence.

Bucky and Steve completed the round of hugs, and they all settled down to the pitcher of mimosas already on the table.

“Morita said to tell you sorry he couldn't make it,” Dernier informed the group. “Apparently he is – drumroll please –  _ in a relationship _ and couldn't get away for the day!”

Bucky and Nat actually shrieked with glee, and the table descended into gossip for the moment, before coming around to other important conversation, like how adorable it was that Bucky had moved in with Peggy and Steve, Nat's new haircut, and everyone's asshole bosses.

Steve laughed so hard at Dum Dum's impersonations that he accidentally snorted some mimosa and had to curl up with his head in Nat's lap to recover for a moment while Bucky cheerfully photographed his shame.

They lingered over blintzs and cocktails until Bucky announced that their household had to get going, as they had to cross back over the river to Queens.

“Excellent as always,” Nat assured him, and grinned at Peggy's curious look. “Bucky is everyone's date on Valentine's Day. Seriously, I've known him to have three dinners.”

“My record is four brunches,” he said proudly, and blushed a little. “Just, you know. You guys are important to me.”

“You're okay,” Nat informed him, but they hugged tightly, and Bucky brushed a kiss on her cheek.

“Take care of you,” he ordered her, and she smiled and hugged him again.

Dum-Dum kissed Peggy's cheek and hugged Steve goodbye, the two of them already having  made  plans to check out a new whiskey bar the next time they were free. Dernier kissed everyone, and looked awfully proud of it,  too .

Bucky led them out of the tiny restaurant – where they had been nearly the only customers -- and back to the subway.

“Are we meeting Becca?” Peggy guessed.

“Why the hell else would I be taking you to Queens?” Bucky asked, and winked. “Yup, although not at her place. So, how d'you like your day so far?” he asked Steve.

“You really go on dates all day?” Steve asked, looking a little dazed.

“Mmmhmm. Like I said, I'm usually single. And I have a lot of single friends. Nat gets lonelier than she lets on, and Morita  _ hated _ his dateless streak and just...” he shrugged. “They have my back a lot. It's something I can do in return.”

“How the fuck did I wind up with you?” Steve asked the universe.

Bucky just laughed and rested his head on Steve's shoulder. “You deserve all that's good,” he whispered in his ear, as the subway train thundered towards Astoria.

He led them through quieter streets, th e spring winds still following them, until they reached a gallery perched at the end of a block, the first floor of a gorgeous grand old house.

Bucky let them in, and nodded to the woman at the front desk, who smiled. “Becca said to tell you she's running a little late, but will be here soon.”

“Thanks Gina,” Bucky said, nodding to her.

“Oh my God, is that a Chihuly?” Steve said, and Peggy made a happy sound.

“They have a Becky Suss!”

Bucky laughed and let his lovers loose. A few well-known names mixed with  lesser-known contemporary artists, including one that Bucky was pretty sure Steve was going to absolutely fall in love with.

Becca joined them not long after they arrived, greeting all of them with a hug. “So, my friend actually showed here,” she explained. “And I live so close, I like to come in and just check things out, even though there's no way in hell I can afford to collect art this nice. They're pretty open and chill about stuff like that, and Bucky thought you guys might like it.”

“We  _ love _ it,” Peggy assured her, and slipped her arm around Becca's waist. “How are you, anyway? Talk to me about the pretty girls' hearts you've broken.”

Becca made a face. “It's the other way 'round, dammit.”

Steve frowned. If he'd had quills, they would have stood up, like an angry porcupine. “Who broke your heart?” he demanded.

Bucky had already heard the gist of this (and comforted, and threatened retribution), so he stayed quiet while Becca shrugged, tried to brush it off, and then tried to talk Steve out of marching over to some poor girl's house to tell her off.

“It's just how it worked out,” she insisted, and smiled when Peggy squeezed her waist. “Whatever, she's not important. It's really good to see you guys again.”

“You too,” Steve said, and visibly forced himself to stop frowning. “Seriously. You know you can come over and hang out anytime, right? You're family now.”

Becca blinked hard, just the once, then nodded. “When it's warmer and I can take my bike,” she promised.

Peggy gently changed the topic, and all four of them explored the gallery – bigger than it looked, and with an amazing basement space – for the next hour, cooing over finds, Steve almost  had a coronary when he found the artist Bucky  had been sure he was going to love. One of her pieces – a tiny one, Bucky wasn't that well-off – was waiting at home, hidden  away for later .

They went for coffee, lingering until Becca was laughing so hard she was crying, Bucky egging her on until she threw a napkin at him.

“We've got to get going,” he finally said, reluctantly. “Sorry, girly-girl. Come hang out with us soon, please?”

“Promise. I want some new ink anyway,” she said, and hugged him tightly. “Thanks, Bucky. It was good seeing you.”

“You too,” he told her, and let her go to say goodbye to Steve and Peggy.

“You're family too,” Becca told them, very softly. “Better than, actually. As recent events showed.”

Steve hugged her so hard her feet left the ground.

 

Bucky got them an Uber – public transit in the boroughs being what it was – and they headed back to Brooklyn.

“Who else do we know who's in town?” Peggy asked, a little wonderingly.

“You'll see,” Bucky said smugly, but wouldn't reveal any more, even when Steve openly begged.

Any mystery was quickly squashed, when they got to the Rose of Tralee, where they spent most nights anyway. They went in to a quiet, late-afternoon crowd, and Bucky smiled a little to himself – he was _pretty_ sure they'd run into people they knew from the neighborhood, and was pleased to see that their parochial little corner of town had held true.

Coulson was at a table with a woman, which didn't stop him from hailing them over and pretty shamelessly making eyes at Steve while they all chatted a bit. Then one of Steve's regulars spotted them and they joined him and his girlfriend for a drink, before Peggy drifted off to chat with a girl she knew from another coffee shop.

Bucky got grabbed by some friends who had welcomed him into the genderqueer scene, and they made plans for a craft night, with Sian promising to teach Bucky to knit. “You definitely have enough dexterity,” zee swore, hands wrapping around his prosthetic. “And we'll work around it if you don't.”

Bucky shyly agreed just as Peggy came up behind him, gathering his long hair in her hands and finger-combing it. She chatted a bit with the people she knew, and got introduced to those she didn't, and then very shamelessly kidnapped Bucky back to the table she'd secured for them.

Steve was a little slower in wandering over – a friend of his had broken her ankle slipping on some ice, and he had to fuss a little, then make her promise to call him if she needed absolutely anything and also he would be checking in regularly, but he finally joined them.

Bucky slipped his arms around his lovers and kissed them in turn. “So? How'd I do?”

“Brilliantly. I never doubted you for a moment,” Peggy said, putting her legs up on a spare chair.

“This...was not what I expected,” Steve admitted. “But it's amazing. I loved it.” He laughed. “I had a really good day. Thank you.”

Bucky raised his fists in triumph. “I did it!” he fake-cheered. “I got Steve Rogers to have a good time on Valentine's Day!”

“Oh, fuck off,” Steve said cheerfully. “It wasn't really a St. Valentine's Day thing.”

“Bite your tongue. There are so many ways to love people, and you got to do them all today,” Bucky pointed out. “It's a perfect Valentine's Day. One love isn't better than the other, and it shouldn't be given priority.”

Steve smiled, slow and easy and glowing as he actually _listened_ to what Bucky was saying. “Point. Good point. I love you.” He kissed Bucky softly. “My friend, and my lover. Pretty nice.”

“Pretty nice,” Bucky agreed, and nuzzled Peggy's hair. “You both have presents at home, by the way, but that's just 'cause I like spoiling you.”

“So do you,” Peggy admitted.

Steve just turned red and mumbled something.

“Hmmm?” Peggy asked.

“If it's not a copy of The Communist Manifesto I won't be happy,” Bucky informed him.

Steve turned more red. “I got you guys something too,” he mumbled. “All right? No need to make a fuckin' federal case about it.”

Peggy snickered, and Bucky utterly failed to let it go, though in the end they gave each other gifts the next day – being unable to find time in between stumbling home a little tipsy and having a frankly marathon bout of sex that left Bucky weak as a kitten, covered in love-bites, and happier than he'd ever dreamed possible.

 

**Author's Note:**

> Thanks for reading! It's been great keeping up with this 'verse. Am I going to write that sex scene at the end someday? Eh, knowing me, probably.
> 
> dietraumerei.tumblr.com


End file.
